It is commonplace today for cable television and satellite television networks to carry several hundred channels. Typically, even a subscriber to basic services gets over 50 channels. It is not uncommon for a subscriber to have over 100 channels available with a subscription. Advances in Internet video and television make available thousands more channels and videos for consumer entertainment.
Many Internet videos and television channels are closely related to television programs shown on regular television channels, yet consumers cannot view a television program and switch to related Internet videos easily on their television set.
For example, in one scenario, while John is watching a NCAA sweet sixteen basketball match on an ESPN cable channel, he may want to see updates of other concurrent NCAA games, which are available on ESPN's Internet website. In order to view the concurrent games, John has to take his laptop computer into the same room and connect to ESPN's website.
In another exemplary scenario, Mary is watching a HBO channel showing the movie “Titanic”. She is curious about actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and wishes to investigate his current events. Particularly Mary is interested in seeing a preview of a recent Leonardo DiCaprio movie titled “The Departed”. Mary does not want to go to the computer in the kitchen, but is otherwise unable to view the Internet movie preview.
Thus, there is a need to allow combined showings of Internet videos and traditional television onto a television set.